Got 'Til It's Gone

I had a dream

That the house was empty

I walked

From room to room

And everything was there

But what wasn’t

Has a place ever seemed

So different to you

That you touched

Things you’ve never touched before

The doorknobs

The walls

The top of the fridge

You want to know

How a place that always

Felt one way

Could suddenly

Abruptly

Feel so different

And you know

Something must be missing

But you can’t find it

The missing thing

You can’t find

Where it used to be

You’re looking

For an absence

And it doesn’t escape you

How strange that seems

To look for a spot

Where something you never noticed

Used to sit

Asking

To be noticed

Do you sit on the bed?

Do you turn on the stove

And try to cook?

Do you even

Feel hungry?

Outside, it’s getting darker

Earlier now

You want to be a person

Who enjoys the night

And you used to be

Until the night didn’t offer you

Anywhere to go

Or anyone new to be

You’re thinking of getting

Those dark, dark curtains

That’ll block out light

So that evening

Will be no different

Than the morning

You want time to lose

What little bit

Of meaning

It has left

You think of how long

You could last

If you stopped

Showing up for work

Stopped agreeing

To attend functions

To go to dinners

To shop for anything

Other than essentials

The other day

You were at the mall

And you sat in your car

In the part of the parking lot

That never seems

To have cars in it

Unless you’re looking

To sell drugs or make out

You sat in your car

And thought about communities

The people who go to work

At stores next to each other

And whether they talk

Or pass each other

And make small talk

Or offer to get drinks

After their shift

You thought about

How a relationship

Is its own community

Everyone has a job

Everyone has responsibility

Everyone has something

They know they have to do

If they don’t want it

To dissolve

But what a great weight

To put on two people

Loving each other

To create an ecosystem

That exists under a blanket

Every night

And shifts imperceptibly

With each passing second

When the shift

Creates a schism

Is that break

The absence

You were looking for?

But that means

Nothing is gone

It means

Something new

Has been created

And nobody

Could live

With it

Why I Won’t Release The Prisoners

We’re not letting them go

Without orders

From the secondary bureau

Telling us

That’s what they

Would like us to do

And if that happens

I’ll resign

Because I’m not releasing

The prisoners

And if I’m ordered to do it

You’ll need to physically

Forcibly

Compel me to do it

And that’s something

I doubt you’re willing to do

When it comes to the point

Where you have to put your hands on me

I don’t think you’ll do it

Because I’ve done it

I know what it takes to do it

And I really doubt

You have what it takes

And I doubt, in general

Many people

Want to get to a point

Where they’re putting their hands

On people

To get what they want

Because it’s violent, right?

It’s perceived as being violent

Even if it’s just grabbing somebody

And moving them out of the way

So you can get through the door

They’re blocking

And people don’t want to be violent

Because that’s seen

As a breakdown

Of some kind

We avoid violence

The prisoners here?

They didn’t avoid violence

Now, that got them here

But it also shows you

What you need to be willing to do

If you’re talking about

Letting these people

Back out into the world

These are people

Who have looked over the edge

And felt comfortable

Jumping

And you’re trying to get me

To step back from the edge

So I can stand next to you

And let the people

I’m in charge of detaining

Take everybody else

Over the edge with them

I’m not willing to do that

Now, I can stall you

For right now

With forms and legislation

But if you’re wondering

Whether or not

All that will end

With me simply refusing

To release the prisoners

Then yes, that’s how it’s going to end

So if you want to cut out the middleman

Save yourself some time

And just show up here with a baseball bat

Ready to body me

Then I welcome that

Because truth be told

I fucking hate

Filling out

All those forms

So show up

Or don’t

But know what you’re walking into

If you’re going to come here

And tell me

What I can and can’t do

Because I’m not planning

On having a Q&A session with you

About how you think

I do

My job

Part of my job

Is standing in the doorway

Waiting for you to show up

So I can tell you

That you are not getting

What you want

Unless you’re willing to do

What the people inside

Were willing to do

Do you understand

What I’m saying?

You are not

Going to stay civil

And get through

This door

Because that tells me

That if I let any of these prisoners go

I’m sending them out

Into a world

With people like you

Sitting ducks

Who don’t even know

How to quack

The Dog and Pony Show

The Dog and Pony

Put on a show

The Dog tried

Hopping on the Pony

And riding around

But the Dog got Pony-sick

And had to get down

And lay down

And the show was cancelled

And the audience said--

‘Wow, what a Dog and Pony show’

The next week

The Pony told the Dog

No Pony rides

And so instead

The Dog threw a stick

And the Pony tried to catch it

Because the Dog knew

The audience would expect

The Dog to go fetch the stick

And the Dog knew that the trick

To a very good show

Is to give the audience

Something they wouldn’t expect

But the Pony had no practice

At finding sticks

And so while it was looking

The audience got bored

And wandered away

And as they did

They mumbled--

‘Wow, what a Dog and Pony show’

The next week

The Dog told the Pony

No fetching sticks

And that this week

No surprises

Because even though

An audience loves surprises

It’s very difficult

To pull off a surprise

Whereas predictable things

Are predictably much easier

To pull off

And so this week

The Pony was going

To throw the stick

And the Dog was going to fetch it

And the audience showed up

And the Pony threw the stick

And the Dog fetched it

And the audience was expecting that

So they got bored

And left saying--

‘Wow, what a Dog and Pony show’

The next week

The Pony told the Dog

That after thinking about it

It seemed as though

The smart thing to do

Would be to do

Two predictable things

At the same time

And so the audience showed up

And the Dog fetched the stick

And the Pony ate some hay

And while the audience stayed

A little bit longer

Eventually they still got bored

And left

And as they left

They muttered--

‘Wow, what a Dog and Pony show’

The next week

The Dog told the Pony

That the problem was

They were doing predictable things

That dogs and ponies would do

Instead of predictable things

That other animals might do

And maybe that was the secret

To a very good show

And so the audience arrived

Sat down

And the Dog meowed

And the Pony mooed

And it was very strange

And the audience didn’t know

What was happening

And so they soon left

And as they left they groaned--

‘Wow, what a Dog and Pony show’

The next week

The Dog and Pony decided

That they wouldn’t worry

About the kind of show

The audience would like to see

Because worrying about that

Only seemed to end

With the audience leaving

And grumbling

So the Dog played frisbee

With the Pony

And the Pony galloped

Alongside the Dog

And without even realizing it

Pretty soon, the Dog and the Pony

Were in front of an audience

The biggest audience they ever had

And when they were done

Doing what they wanted to do the most

The audience applauded

And the Dog and Pony bowed

And promised themselves

They would only do what they wanted

From that point on

And as the audience left

They beamed and laughed

And said--

‘Now THAT was a Dog and Pony show!’

Why The Economist Got A Divorce

 The economist got a divorce

Because she weighed

The pros and cons

She did some simple addition

And it became clear

That subtraction

Would be the better option

All her terms pointed

To separation

The sum of their marriage

Was a negative number

And rather than think

Of how far they’d come

She thought of how far back

They could go

If they kept moving

Forward together

What she always loved

About having a passion

For economics

Was how impersonal it was

Having passion for something

So dispassionate

Was just one contradiction

In her life

But the other was falling in love

With another woman

Who is terrible with money

Her wife isn’t so much

Bad with money
As she is bad at making it

And keeping it

Once she’s made it

But she understands it

She gets the concept of money

And why it has value

But she also finds it freeing

To be broke

And then run around broke

On a high of stress

And financial brinkmanship

This has made her, our economist

Very unhappy

Because it feels as though

Her best friend is fighting with her partner

Sometimes she imagines money

Talking to her

Telling her

That she needs to leave

And she agrees

But her wife is so beautiful

And such a beautiful person as well

And why should economics

Bring about the destruction

Of the love

That two people have

For each other?

It might be because

She sits at the kitchen table

And thinks about

How people with money

Wake up everyday

Not having to worry about money

And maybe they wake up

Worrying about other things

But most things

Can be tied back to

Whether or not

You can pay for something

Or pay for something

To be taken care of

Or pay someone else

To worry for you

But if you don’t have money

Or enough money

Than you wake up frozen

And she’s started to wake up

Frozen, her wife lying beside her

Sleeping soundly

Happily

A winsome grin

On her face

And she feels that anger

Bubble up

How can she sleep so soundly?

Doesn’t she know

We can’t pay

To sleep soundly?

The economist finds pennies

Around the house

And her wife tells her

That when she was young

Her mother would put pennies in a jar

With the label ‘Penny’s pennies’

Because her wife’s name is Penny

And everyone they know

Thinks that’s very funny

But pennies are worthless

And so is her wife

When it comes to anything

That would allow her

To sleep with a winsome grin

When the economist finds pennies

She throws them away

And doesn’t feel bad about it

Because they don’t own a jar

She could put the pennies in

And even if they did

There are better uses

For a jar

Five years after the divorce

She is walking along an empty street

Far too late at night

Because she couldn’t sleep

Even with the money

She had managed to save

Sleeping soundly in a bank account

And as she walks

She looks down near a grate

In the street

And sees something glint

And wonders

What it might be

Worth